Rosa’s 99th b-day

On Feb 4 1913 this woman was born:

Rosa Louise Parks

On December 1, 1955 she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger on a city bus in Montgomery Alabama. She was arrested and by Dec 5 there was a wave of similar protests across the country, as well as the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Highlander was so successful that to sparked a backlash. In 1957, the Georgia Commission on Education published a pamphlet titled “Highlander Folk School: Communist Training School”. The FBI accused one of it’s founders of being the district director of the Communist Party. The state of Tennessee deregistered the school in 1961, only to have the staff reincorporate it a year later.

Rosa was not an innocent who stood up, she was trained by the best. And we have all gained from her skill and bravery.

One response to “Rosa’s 99th b-day”

I believe the date of Parks’ refusal was planned as well, with friends nearby in Birmingham who distributed pre-printed handbills the next day about what had happened.

The way Rosa Parks is belittled in white people’s history books offends me. It offends me the same way it offends me that, for the longest time, I thought Josephine Baker was nothing but a stripper. She was an incredible activist, not only in the public sphere but also in the private, as she personally adopted ten needy children. She was even involved in some espionage I don’t quite understand that involved having some codes printed into her sheet music. When MLK, Jr, died, Coretta Scott King asked Baker to take over her husband’s mission. She declined only because she had ten children at home. Are you as surprised as I was to learn this?

Rosa Parks is an amazing hero even in her belittled, legendary state. Knowing the reality of what sort of hero she was makes her all that much more amazing. She volunteered to be the frontwoman for a difficult, necessary battle. Thank you for honoring her. I think she really deserves it.